Mega Man's Contest History
Who is Mega Man? The Blue Bomber. Mega Man. Mega Man X. Mega Man Volnutt. Mega Man.exe. No matter what you call him, 99.99999999% know him from the original series that has elevated him into the status of “gaming icon”. “Mega Man 2” and “Mega Man 3” are two of the greatest games to ever grace the insides of a warm and toasty NES and as such, has firmly planted Mega Man into the hearts of gamers everywhere. The NES days were kind to Mega Man and his unique style of gameplay and rockin’ beats. Defeat 8 robot masters by discovering their weaknesses and exploiting them for your own gain before heading off to face off with the villanous Dr. Wily again and again…..and again………and……aga…in…….*yawn* Despite the lucrative success of spinoff series such as Mega Man X, Mega Man Battle Network and Mega Man Zero, the magic that Mega Man has garnered from his games has been declining. However, a sharp increase in MM interest came from the spawning of all of Mega Man’s original games encased in one convienient, easy to carry cartridge known as the “Mega Man Anniversery Collection”. Along with that, the Blue Bomber is still chugging along with 9 installments of his original series in the books, an upcoming 8th volume of the darker, more mature X series and the neverending onslaught of games added to the Battle Network library. All in all, Mega Man is still showing signs of life late in his teen years. For Mega Man, he has already grasped hold of a strong and loyal fanbase thanks to his NES days of glory and that has seen him through to overwhelming success in the Summer Contest arena. “Let’s go Rush!” – Mega Man Mega Man's contest history Win-Loss Record: 28-11 Summer 2002 Contest - West Division - 6 Seed * Western Round 1--- Defeated (11) Ms. Pac-Man, 63039 92.30% - 5257 7.70% * Western Quarterfinal --- Defeated (3) Serious Sam, 60914 91.84% - 5414 8.16% * Western Semifinal --- Lost to (7) Sephiroth, 48185 49.49% - 49172 50.51% * Extrapolated Strength --- 3rd Place 42.91% Summer 2003 Contest - West Division - 2 Seed * Southern Round 1 --- Defeated (15) Mr. Resetti, 91905 88.96% - 11400 11.04% * Southern Quarterfinal --- Defeated (10) Zelda, 65528 60.75% - 42329 39.25% * Southern Semifinal --- Defeated (3) Tommy Vercetti, 75551 66.86% - 37456 33.14% * Southern Final --- Defeated (1) Solid Snake, 63639 53.50% - 55322 46.50% * Final Four --- Lost to (7) Sephiroth, 48213 38.82% - 75979 61.18% * Extrapolated Strength --- 4th Place 38.60% Summer 2004 Contest - 20XX Division - 1 Seed * 20XX Round 1--- Defeated (16) Earthworm Jim, 70219 82.98% - 14406 17.02% * 20XX Quarterfinal --- Defeated (8) Tidus, 57069 64.78% - 31033 35.22% * 20XX Semifinal --- Defeated (4) Zero, 46849 56.01% - 36800 43.99% * 20XX Final --- Defeated (2) Solid Snake, 50116 57.19% - 37517 42.81% * Final Four --- Lost to (1) Link, 30622 32.39% - 63913 67.61% * Extrapolated Strength --- 6th Place 35.99% Tucked away as a lowly 6 seed in 2002, expectations for Mega Man were not too high if you were paying attention to the horrific seedings of the tournament. However, with the sheer power and brute force exhibited by Mega Man after 2 rounds of play in 2002, everyone knew that a contest powerhouse was born. Even with the fact that Ms. Pac-Man and Serious Sam are two ridiculously weak opponents, the Blue Bomber put up numbers that no normal character should put up on ANY opponent. Keeping his first two opponents under the 6000 vote total spurned talk of a Mega Man championship jaunt in the inaugraul Summer Contest. In the next round however, Sephiroth squeaked by Rock Man and into the Western Finals to halt any chance of a Blue Bomber championship. The next year saw Mega Man again return to the contest with hopes flying high. The road to a rematch with Sephiroth was within reach as Mega Man was drawn into a division he could seemingly handle. After putting up familiar numbers on the pathetic Mr. Resetti, Mega Man looked back in form and ready to take on the character masses. Despite not brutally murdering opponents the rest of the way in the wide open Western Division, Mega Man showed his toughness and grit versus capable opponents such as Zelda and Solid Snake. After winning his first division championship over Solid Snake, Mega Man again squared off against Sephiroth in a rematch that was sure to see the tables turn in Mega’s favor. However, the FFVII masses had submerged on the contest and seemingly taken over. Evidence of FFVII’s rise to power was no more evident than in the rematch of Mega Man/Sephiroth. What was a vote differential of roughly 1000 votes between the two characters in 2002 had ballooned into a gigantic advantage of nearly 30000 votes for the One Winged Angel one year later. This was the point that Mega Man fell from grace and was excluded from the elite ranks of the Summer Contest. A championship dream would not be realized by Mega Man fanatics while the elite forces of Sephiroth, Cloud or Link were in the way. The Summer Contest of 2004 had Mega Man placed as the cream of the crop in the very division named after him, the 20XX. As the events of the 2004 contest began to happen, a familiar script began to unfold. Blowing out his early round opponents followed up by respectable outings against strong fighters in Tidus and Zero, all rounded off with a division championship over the likes of Metal Gear’s finest, Solid Snake. However just like in 2003, the Final Four saw no mercy for Mega Man as the eventual champion, Link, blew past the 20XX champion with hardly a scratch on his tunic. The blowout result only further solidified what was already known by many. Mega Man could not compete on the level of the former contest champions and as such, could never raise the Summer Contest trophy as his own with them in the running. With new games coming out nearly bi-monthly, Mega Man is still making the games necessary to retain his fanbase, however the fault lies in that the games Mega Man produces are just not hyped enough or great enough to elevate his popularity into the ranks of Summer Contest champion status. There have been many new Mega Man game that have hit the shelves and has been treated by the gaming community with mediocre fanfare. Following the release of the “Mega Man Anniversary Collection”, the fans of the series are already defined and the vote numbers will neither increase or decrease barring a sharp rise in Mega Man attention to the newer gamers. To be frank, Mega Man is currently stuck in contest limbo and with powerhouses like Link, Sephiroth and Cloud Strife in the tournament he will stay there. Summer 2005 Contest - 20XX Division - 1 Seed * 20XX Round 1 --- Defeated (8) Conker, 75807 76.02% - 23913 23.98% * 20XX Semifinal --- Defeated (5) Leon Kennedy, 60391 64.56% - 33154 35.44% * 20XX Final --- Defeated (3) Yoshi, 63395 68.08% - 29719 31.92% * Elite Eight --- Defeated (1) Sonic, 49841 50.37% - 49099 49.63% * Final Four --- Lost to (2) Crono, 50479 48.65% - 53283 51.35% * Extrapolated Strength --- 7th Place 35.55% It was a lock that Mega Man would waltz through his division en route to a showdown with Sonic, and despite a constant game of "You win the match. No, YOU win the match. Oh no, I insist!", Mega Man wound up being the victor in the closest match of the entire contest. He couldn't follow it up however as Mega Man would go on to fall in the Final Four for the third year in a row. For whatever reason, Mega Man just can't seem to get over that hump that separates the strong characters from the true elites. Still, Mega Man is a rather strong character who seems to be at a constant level of strength; we'll likely see much more of this in future contests, unless of course people finally get sick of one rehash after another from the Mega Man series. Summer 2006 Contest - Destiny Division - 2 Seed * Destiny Round 1 --- Defeated (7) Axel, 81959 69.87% - 35340 30.13% * Destiny Semifinal --- Defeated (6) Ryu, 69626 58.04% - 50342 41.96% * Destiny Final --- Defeated (1) Sora, 72630 54.28% - 61167 45.72% * Quarterfinal --- Lost to (1) Solid Snake, 56648 44.67% - 70163 55.33% * Extrapolated Strength --- 6th Place 41.89% Though Mega Man won three matches in 2006, he was one of the most disappointing characters of the contest and was expected to do much better. At first people were upset that he was to face Snake again, but it became more and more obvious with each round that Snake was going to do Mega Man in. First there was the huge percentage bleed against Axel, then the underwhelming win against Ryu, then an even bigger percentage bleed against Sora. By the time Snake beat him, it wasn't even an upset anymore. Mega Man, like Crono, suffers from no recent games that matter syndrome and is bound to fall bit by bit each year until he gets something new. If this doesn't happen, Mega Man is likely the biggest candidate for the one to break the Noble Nine... unless you count Link's loss to Jay Solano in the bonus match =p Summer 2007 Contest - Division 1 - Second Group * Division 1 Round 1 --- 1st place, 70743 50.49% - KOS-MOS, 25822 18.43% - Arthas Menethil, 21950 15.67% - Diablo, 21603 15.42% * Division 1 Round 2 --- 1st place, 47353 37.73% - Yoshi, 35438 28.24% - Knuckles the Echidna, 25442 20.27% - KOS-MOS, 17261 13.75% * Division 1 Final --- 2nd place, 45857 30.43% - Samus Aran, 49872 33.10% - Yoshi, 28823 19.13% - Scorpion, 26126 17.34% * Contest Quarterfinal --- 3rd place, 26641 18.43% - Cloud Strife, 59587 41.23% - Samus Aran, 41623 28.80% - Ryu, 16682 11.54% After looking like the weakest link in the Noble Nine last year, people were hoping that Mega Man would get challenged by some of the potential breakers. Didn't happen. Instead, he did manage to look like his old self for a little while. He blasted his opening match and scored over 50% there, and he did very well in the second round with Yoshi and Knuckles there. Then the Blue Bomber surprised some people with how well he performed with Samus in the picture, who is thought by many to be just a step away from Sephy's level. However, he didn't look that good the next round when you took Yoshi out and put Cloud in. It's looking like Mega Man benefited from some LFF against Samus to look better than he really was. Regardless, he's still Noble for another year. Summer 2008 Contest - Division 5 - Second Group * Division 5 Round 1 --- 1st place, 68966 51.19% - Nero, 32366 24.03% - Banjo, 17892 13.28% - Captain Olimar, 15490 11.50% * Division 5 Round 2 --- 1st place, 50711 36.51% - Weighted Companion Cube, 39758 28.62% - Tidus, 31608 22.75% - Nero, 16834 12.12% * Division 5 Final --- 3rd place, 34762 23.72% - Solid Snake, 55084 37.59% - Weighted Companion Cube, 35000 23.88% - Zero, 21706 14.81% The first two rounds were nothing to the Blue Bomber. He was expected to advance with his rival Snake in the third round but Zero made it into the group. He held Mega back just enough for the Cube to sneak through and advance. Mega Man's popularity has fallen over the years despite a few releases upcoming. Will he ever get back to his former strength? Winter 2010 Contest - Mushroom Division - 3 Seed * Mushroom Round 1 --- Defeated (14) Cid Highwind, 32766 63.04% - 19213 36.96% * Mushroom Round 2 --- Defeated (6) Zack Fair, 32305 61.66% - 20086 38.34% * Mushroom Semifinals --- Defeated (7) Ryu Hayabusa, 50583 72.15% - 19529 27.85% * Mushroom Finals --- Lost to (1) Mario, 29285 58.38% - 20879 41.62% * Extrapolated Strength --- 26th Place 29.49% Mega Man went up against back-to-back Final Fantasy VII characters. There was some debate that he might fall early. Cid has never been in a contest but just being in FF7 is scary enough. Zack went on an impressive run the year before so many were overhyping his strength. Mega Man dispatched them both and then ran over Ryu only to be destroyed by Mario. Proving that the blue bomber nukes fodder and mid carders, but bombs versus the power houses. Mega Man only received 41.62% of the vote. The majority believed He'd break 45%. Some believing he would win. Alas, Mario proved he still got it. Summer 2013 Contest - Division 9 - 1 Seed * Division 9 Round 1 --- 1st place, 14850 (55.28%) - (27) Magikarp, 8592 31.98% - (18) Geno , 3423 12.74% * Division 9 Round 2 --- 1st place, 14122 (56.67%) - (19) Jill Valentine , 5751 23.08% - (6) Kratos , 5046 20.25% * Division 9 Final --- 1st place, 21698 (40.21%) - (7) Charizard , 21675 40.17% - (2) Zero, 10587 19.62% * Final Nine --- 2nd place, 17401 (33.32%) - (1) Samus Aran , 20097 38.48% - (4) Pokemon Trainer Red , 14724 28.2% * Bonus Round (4th Place) --- 1st place, 20547 48.95%, (11) Mewtwo 12462 29.69%, (6) Pikachu 8963 21.35% The blue bomber was then again a victim of poor bracket placement, facing a predicted heavily-rallied pokemon Magikarp. Magikarp actually had a scary lead over MM before the Noble Niner took out the splashing fish. MM then dominated his 2nd round matchup over midcarders, which set up a date with fellow partner Zero and the fire breathing monster in Charizard. Many thought Zero would LFF Mega Man so bad that Charizard would win with ease... until Charizard almost bombed his match with Zelda. When the match started Charizard and Mega Man were actually very close precentage wise. As the match went on, Charizard would increase his lead even more with the morning vote and ASV. Many thought it was over for the blue bomber, until random rallies became forming. The match became a classic once Mega Man started cutting and took the lead in the last hour of the match. Charizard then had a rally himself and the two went against each other, cut after cut, while Zero was just going down in percentage. The final update came and MM officially had won the classic, winning by 23 votes. The instant classic erupted the Board, fans rejoicing that Mega Man could finally make the finals and possibly win the whole thing. That unfortunately didn't happen, coming up short to fellow SSB4 character Samus in a chance to go to the finals. The bonus match had him in another good performance helped by Pokémon LFF. Mega Man, though, showed the most heart in the Charizard/Zero match that makes people not forget why the blue bomber is in the Noble Nine. Capcom is basically giving Mega Man the shaft: his last game (other than endorsed fan-project Street Fighter vs. Mega Man) was released during our last character battle, announcements that got fan hopes high (Mega Man Legends 3, Mega Man Universe) were unceremoniously cancelled, and MM was not included in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 in lieu of Zero. Demonstrations of fan support such as this are good to see this icon isn't forgotten. Fall 2018 Contest - Legends Bracket - 8 Seed * Legends Round 1 --- Lost to Pikachu, 14396 49.89% - 14458 50.11% * Loser Bracket Round 1 --- Defeated Ganondorf, 15151 60.03% - 10087 39.97% * Loser Bracket Round 2 -- Defeated Pikachu, 13809 49.33% - 14182 50.67% * Loser Bracket Round 3 -- Lost to (5) Crono, 12977 49.79% - 13089 50.21% Capcom finally cut Mega Man some slack and released another well-received retro game, Mega Man 11. Add his return to Smash Bros, and the Blue Bomber was on the public eye enough to again perform well. And then he becomes the victim of a rule made to ensure GameFAQs wasn't distorted by rallies like in contests prior. Against a Pikachu that benefited hugely from a Nintendo boost (to the point he defeated Zero in the regular bracket!), Mega Man won the outside vote, but registered votes counting double made the Pokémon defeat him by 62 votes overall, the first Noble Nine defeat in a 24 hour match. The Blue Bomber fanbase did not take this easily, and when given a second chance in the loser bracket, made sure Mega Man slaughtered Ganondorf and made the rat pay for the upset. Too bad that what followed was sad and anti-climactic for Mega Man. Avenging his 2005 defeat to Crono seemed possible, as Mega Man kept a close lead for most of the match. But a late surge for the Chrono Trigger hero created an inversion of the Pikachu defeat: the Blue Bomber got the support of the GameFAQs users, yet the outsiders made Crono win by just 112 votes! Category:Contest Histories